


No tears left to cry

by shadownitez



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Parent Tony Stark, Post-Canon Fix-It, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 01:02:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16075106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadownitez/pseuds/shadownitez
Summary: Tony's journey to fix the snap and all the deaths that followed, but most importantly his race to see Peter again, who he didn't realize he saw as a son until it was too late.





	No tears left to cry

The events that followed Thanos’ destruction tend to blur into one. I first remember sitting on that godforsaken planet with one of the guardians who I later learned her name was Nebula, her cold steely eyes revealing nothing except the odd lost look that told me she’d lost someone that meant something too, in fact, I imagine everyone had.  
My hands were covered in his ashes, it happened so quickly and suddenly my mind hardly comprehended what occurred, and I knew that no matter what happened next, the unworldly fear I saw in Peter's eyes would never stop haunting me. I wish I could go back, change something, tell Mantis to keep quiet during the plan or tell the kid he meant something other than just being an intern. The things I wouldn’t be able to say, and it was all on me. I didn’t cry.  
The journey back to Earth is just fragments of consciousness I put together. The stab wound had finally caught up to me and Nebula silently guided me to the ship and lay me down, not at all gentle but I appreciated the silence. The physical pain had to be almost the worst I’d ever felt, second only to when the missile with my name on it had blown up right in front of me. I didn’t cry then either.  
I dreaded arriving on Earth, I didn’t want to know who we had lost there, but it came too soon, and upon landing in Wakanda, the first face I saw was Rhodey’s, and the relief I had felt wrong, like any positive emotion didn’t belong, but we hugged and it lifted a minuscule amount from my shoulders. I looked up then to see the solemn faces of Natasha, Bruce, Clint, Steve and Thor, and it felt wrong that us lot, the people who started it all, were the ones who survived. I didn’t need to ask who they’d lost at this point, their absences told me enough.  
And in the end, it was some chic from space who was the key to our survival, she called herself ‘captain marvel’. Thor filled us in about the stones and Scott, who miraculously appeared a few months later, explained how we could use the Quantum Realm to time travel. So, we concluded that we needed to form our own gauntlet of stones, by taking them from what would become alternate timelines before returning to our own. Captain Marvel was set to use it, no one else could bear the power of the stones without death but in the heat of battle, while she was going toe-to-toe with Thanos I ended up with it on my hand, I was forced to pick it up, compelled beyond my will and right before I snapped my own fingers I made eye contact with Cap, his eyes begging me to do it, so I did.  
Instantly I was transported to an empty landscape, the ground a mysterious amber hue. I looked around, no one was there, I had no idea this would happen.  
“Mr. Stark?”  
I recognized that voice instantly and it was music to my ears, it’d been too long since I’d heard it. I turn around to see a younger Peter, dressed in the outfit he was wearing when I’d first met him all that time ago. He looked so innocent. I wanted to run to him and protect him but my feet wouldn’t move. The confusion must have shown on my face.  
“You have a choice to make Tony”. This time it came from my father Howard as he and my mother and Jarvis appeared behind Peter.  
“What? What choice, we’ve done everything right!”.  
“You honestly thought it would be so easy?”. Harvey says, and god that means he had been dusted too, I can’t believe I was so stupid not to check, maybe I feared what I would find, or maybe I was too consumed in trying to fix this.  
“Tell me what I need to do!”  
“The soul stone requires a sacrifice, the task you wish to perform is too great to be accomplished without one” Peter states calmly, like it was obvious. Then nothing else is said as they fade, and the strange amber reality fading with it, I blink and I’m back in the real world, back on Earth, the battle still raging around me, Steve’s eyes still boring into mine and what confuses me most is that he doesn’t seem surprised.  
Suddenly he closes the gap between us, picking up one of the chitauri weapons, which somewhat resembled a sword, and pointed at himself, forcing my spare hand onto the handle.  
“Wait Cap, the plan didn’t work we need to regroup.”  
“No Tony, I know what needs to be done” He replies with finality  
“How?” I manage to croak out, but it’s too late and without realizing what happened the sword went straight through his heart. We fell to the floor rather ungracefully.  
“I was there Tony, I was with you all along”  
“You’re an idiot Cap, just hang on in there” I start but before I could call for help, despite most eyes watching us anyway, he turned my head back towards him with his hand, no doubt covering my face in his blood. He couldn’t die, not when we’d finally started trusting each other again.  
“Tell Bucky I..” he starts, visibly weakening by the second  
“No, I’m not telling him anything, tell him yourself when we fix this, together”  
But it’s too late, his hand drops from my face and his chest stops heaving for breath. What just happened? How did he know?  
My attention then drew to the sizzling gauntlet on my hand, it looked like it’s taken a serious beating and started heating up. I yanked it off my armored hand immediately, everyone including Thanos now watching, the battle completely still, it looked almost comical.  
That’s about when everyone started reappearing, the complete opposite to before, the dust regathering from nowhere to reform the people who’d been lost. Random civilians among them, a few pets or two, then lastly our people. Bucky was first, appearing right next to me, a lost look on his face as he looked down at Cap’s body. But I couldn’t say anything to him. My eyes were fixed on Peter, tears in his eyes, the exact same look he’d given me as he died in his eyes, but he can’t see me, although that’s who I imagine he’s hurriedly looking for.  
A soon as his eyes meet mine we’re running, to bridge the 50-meter gap between us. He hugs me tightly, like his life depended on it, mumbling among the tears now running down his face but I hear him.  
“Mr stark I remember, I remember it all, I’m so sorry, so sorry, I couldn’t’ stop it but I could feel it coming, oh my god I’m so sorry Tony I didn’t want you to feel it too” He manages, and I let him continue as I hug him back, running my hand in circles on his back in some effort to comfort him and I close my eyes as I rest my chin on his head.  
Silently, I cry.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fic, so constructive criticism is welcome and is just a one-shot because I love the Father/Son relationship with Peter and Tony they just deserve to be a family.


End file.
